A prior art aircraft comprises four takeoff and landing wings (canards) that are retracted flush into the aircraft fuselage surface in cruising flight (U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,999, Mar. 5, 1996). The prior art takeoff and landing wings have two degrees of freedom in the extended position and create additional lift for the aircraft at takeoff and landing.
The prior art takeoff and landing wings support the nose part of the aircraft at low speeds and serve as stabilizers in longitudinal trim, that is, these takeoff and landing wings are not the main aerodynamic elements and only fulfill auxiliary functions. This design is deficient because the two degrees of freedom of each fitting unit (platform) complicate the unit design and make it unreliable. The fitting unit of a takeoff and landing wing of this design is exposed to large aerodynamic loads and for this reason has a large size and weight.
A significant deficiency of this aircraft design is that the main classical fixed wings generate a large drag coefficient (Cx) at high speeds and cause unavoidably significant fuel consumption at cruising speeds.